By Elizabeth Hearst
A man has been arrested as part of an investigation into alleged invoice redirect fraud in Ireland.
It is believed that the investigation surrounds allegations that a West African crime gang has been operating a money laundering ring, using Irish bank accounts to receive stolen funds from around the world.
The gang are accused of perpetrating a sophisticated invoice redirect fraud system whereby they scam companies into lodging money into bank accounts they control. They do this by sending false invoices to companies with whom they do trading with, and access company information through hacking or from social media accounts.
Gardaí (Irish National Police) suspect that the funds obtained through this scam have then rerouted to West Africa, with the vast majority of the money then laundered in further companies.
According to the Irish Times, it is believed that the gang has targeted bank accounts worldwide in an invoice redirect fraud operation, and are suspected to have stolen hundreds of millions of euros globally, with a small portion of these funds transferred into Irish bank accounts.
The man in his 30s was arrested in connection with Operation Joggle and was questioned in Dublin by members of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB). A spokesperson for the Gardaí said: “This arrest is in relation to two international invoice redirection frauds, totaling €36,000, which were received into Irish bank accounts”.
He is the fourth person to be arrested under Operation Joggle, with Gardaí saying they believe he is a minor figure in the criminal network. The operation has included searches on fifteen premises in Dublin, Louth, Meath, Kildare and Laois in September 2018, and searches of two premises in December 2018 in Tallaght and Lusk.
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